1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hockey garment and more particularly to a unitary hockey garment over the lower trunk and legs of a wearer.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97-1.99
Various athletic garments including hockey garments are well known. A number of these garments are of unitary construction which alleviates the necessity of traditional individual segments of clothing. These unitary garments are shown in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,892, issued Jan. 29, 1974, to Quinn; U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,466, issued May 30, 1978, to Kearn; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 267,674, issued Jan. 25, 1983, to Livernois; U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,052, issued Oct. 1, 1991, to Gilford et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,473, issued Apr. 21, 1992, to Valtakari.
However, none of these garments have a legging member which is worn to snugly fit over the leg of a wearer and secured to a pair of outerwear shorts which are not as snugly fit over the lower trunk area of a wearer in comparison to the fit of the legging member to the leg of the wearer and in which a portion of the legging member is positioned inside a leg portion of the pair of shorts. Such a construction would provide a unitary hockey garment with a realistic appearance to a segmented hockey garment without the need of support accessories such as garters to hold up legging members.
Furthermore, a number of patents such as to Quinn, to Kearn, to Valtakari and to Gilford show to secure protective pads to the athletic garment by securing them within pockets or enclosures structured from the garment. As in Quinn, a shin pad is secured by a pocket formed in the garment and additional strapping is placed around the leg to overlie the pad and pocket and apply a force to the pad to further secure it to the leg of the wearer. None of these garments utilize solely the garment to overlie a knee pad and extend the garment continuously down the leg of the wearer and provide additional securement of the garment to the leg of the wearer below the knee of the wearer to have the garment provide underlying support to the knee pad.